Christmas Decorations

Billy Troll was playing his guitar when he heard a knock at the door. His wife, Dianne Troll, answered it.

“Hi Mrs. Troll,” said the friendly voice. “Can I interest you in some Christmas decorations that I made myself?”

Dianne took a real good look at the decorations and was just about going to buy some of them, when she noticed a tag on the back of them that said they were made in a different country.

“You almost made a sale,” said Dianne. “Until I saw that tag. You almost had me fooled.”

“You have something against items made from other countries,” said the salesman.

“No,” said Billy, who had seen and heard everything. “But my wife does have something against a dishonest salesman.”

“But you liked the items right?” asked the salesman to Dianne.

“Yes,” said Dianne. “I happened to like them very much when I thought that they were handmade.”

“But what difference does it make if the Christmas decorations are handmade or not,” said the salesman.

“A lot of difference,” said Dianne. “First of all, you are charging a lot of money for those Christmas decorations. I was willing to pay that for something that was handmade because it would have meant more to me. I don’t want something that was made in a factory somewhere. Something that someone else is going to have. Something that is reproduced by the millions. I wanted something unique, something different. That is why I was going to buy those decorations from you.”

“Wow,” said the salesman. “You have a point and a very good point at that.”

The salesman packed up his goods and left. The next Christmas, the same salesman showed up at Dianne’s door. This time he had a whole case of items that he personally did make himself. Dianne bought quite a few items from him. She bought some for herself and some for her parents and some for her in-laws.

“So,” said Dianne before the salesman could leave. “What made you decide to make the decorations yourself?”

“You did,” said the salesman. “I thought long and hard about what you said after I left your house last year and I thought, why not, why shouldn’t I make the decorations myself.”

“Well,” said Dianne. “I am honoured that you took my advice.”

“I am honoured that you were brave enough to give me the advice you did,” said the salesman. “Sales are booming right now too.”